Time is ticking away. Do something to stop the train now before it is too late. How about one of you guys sending in an editorial to the Mt. Democrat (mine was already printed a few weeks back, so someone else needs to step up)? Fax editorials to - 530-622-7894 or email them to plakey@mtdemocrat.net .

Have you signed the petition to oppose this yet?
http://www.petitiononline.com/boxer/petition.html

And take a moment to write your representatives:
http://www.crowley-offroad.com/new_proposed_wilderness_areas_for_CA.htm

----------------------------------------------------

May 3, 2002 - Boxer bill would set aside 3,800 sq. miles

By EDMOND JACOBY Staff writer


A wilderness bill proposed by U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-California, would set aside California lands larger than the states of Delaware and Rhode Island combined.

Advanced copies of the California Wild Heritage Wilderness Act of 2002 began circulating last week under the title "discussion draft."

The draft, more than 10,000 words in length, lists 75 specific sites where land would be acquired and designated wilderness areas. Two of those sites are in El Dorado County, where the bill would create a 23,040-acre Caples Creek Wilderness Area and a 19,780-acre Meiss Meadows Wilderness Area. Together those would be the equivalent of almost 19 percent of the surface area of Lake Tahoe.

Those two locations were previously the focus of meetings held to determine local sentiment and inform local government officials and politicians. At those meetings Boxer's deputy state director, Thomas Bohigian, assured everyone present that no bill had been drafted and that local concerns about access to forest lands would be respected when a bill was written.

Altogether, the bill would set aside as wilderness, closed to many common uses and to all intrusion by mechanized transportation devices, nearly 3,800 square miles of forest and desert lands. By comparison, El Dorado County is 1,805 square miles. The total is about 2.4 percent of the entire state of California.

Among the problems identified at those earlier meetings and which the bill does not appear to address is that of forest fire prevention and suppression. Wilderness areas normally may not be cleared of fire fuels, fallen trees and brush in particular but also including dense timber growth. The consequence is that, over time, the likelihood of a severe forest fire rises, and without trails or mechanized access firefighters are at a disadvantage extinguishing such fires, according to forestry sources.

At a meeting April 12 between community leaders, user groups and Bohigian at Strawberry Lodge on Highway 50, George Osborne, president of the Board of Directors of El Dorado Irrigation District and a former forest firefighter, made exactly that point when asking for the senator's intentions for the Caples Creek area. EID is concerned that fire in an area traversed by flumes feeding its water system, particularly the Project 184 water sources, including Caples Creek, could be catastrophic.

Although Boxer's staff has never circulated a map showing exactly where wilderness boundaries will fall, the draft of the proposed wilderness act includes a remarkably detailed list - a list that refers to maps for exact locations of the parcels.

"Under the guise of protecting our heritage, the senator is accomplishing something quite different," said Richard Akin, a member of EID's board of directors.

"The national forests are supposed to benefit all of the citizens," he said.

"Timber harvests helped to finance a major part of our roads and our schools in El Dorado County in the past. Now, that's dwindled to almost nothing," he said.

"The national forests were something we could all use once, and the people who created and ran them made a big deal out of their multiple uses. Wilderness designation means all we can do is look at them," he said.

Of interest in this part of California would be the areas set aside in the El Dorado and Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forests totaling 42,800 acres, 73,630 acres in the Tahoe National Forest, which the bill refers to as the North Fork American Wilderness Area, the Black Oak Wilderness Area, the Duncan Canyon Wilderness Area, the Granite Chief Wilderness Area, the Castle Peak Wilderness Area and the Grouse Lakes Wilderness Area.

Additionally, 62,234 acres in the Bureau of Land Management's Ukiah District are to become the Cache Creek Wilderness Area.

The bill also would set aside 74,677 acres in the Shasta Trinity National Forest as salmon restoration areas.

Some 522 miles of California rivers would be designated Wild and Scenic Rivers by the same bill, including portions of the Mokelumne River, the North Fork of the Stanislaus River, and the South Fork of the Tuolumne River. A Sacramento River National Conservation Area also would be created by the bill, consisting of 30,000 acres along the lower Sacramento River, lower Battle Creek and lower Payne's Creek in Tehama County.

A provision in the bill also would create the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest, an area of 29,000 acres identified only as being "public lands generally depicted on a map entitled 'Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest - proposed' dated April 2001."

The bill creates several categories of recurring spending authorization totaling $17 million annually, plus "such sums as may be necessary to carry out" specified portions of the legislation.

Bohigian was traveling and unavailable for comment.

Boxer's Los Angeles-based press spokesman, Jeff Logan, said he was unaware that copies of the legislation had been circulated, and said he had not seen one himself. He was provided a copy, but subsequently did not return calls.

E-mail Edmond Jacoby at ejacoby@mtdemocrat.net.
http://www.mtdemocrat.com/archives/index.inn?loc=detail&doc=/2002/May/03-2297-M0503_N.txt
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You can see a draft of Boxer's bill here:
http://www.crowley-offroad.com/california_wild_heritage_wilderness_Act.htm

Crowdog

Did my part!!
Com'on people!!:mad3:

God that $%#^&* needs to be voted out! :mad::mad2:

Originally posted by Lance
God that $%#^&* needs to be voted out! :mad::mad2:

Dump Boxer and Feinstein (http://www.crowley-offroad.com/dump_senator_boxer_and_senator_feinstein.htm)
:D

Crowdog
www.crowley-offroad.com

There is also an editorial in the May 3, 2002 Mt. Democrat by Kevin McNaughton of Pilot Hill. I can't find it online, but here are a few key sentences for you:

" While I have just about zero sympathy for these land destroyers......How self-centered, stupid and abusive they are."

"Logging roads are the No. 1 reason for major erosion problems in the Sierra."

"Fortunately, the feds saw past the demand to satisfy a few Earth-haters, and booted them out. Good riddance."

"Stop whining, OHVers. Find the energy someday and go walk in the woods. You might enjoy the solitude, lower your blood pressure and lose that OHVer beer gut. I just hope some jerk in a jeep doesn't ruin it all for you."

Will someone please set this guy straight.:mad3:

Crowdog

where the hell is the sticky????:confused: :flipoff2:

i signed!

democrates SUCK!!!! :flipoff2:

Originally posted by ross hildebrandt
democrates SUCK!!!! :flipoff2:

so do non-DEMOCRATS that can't spell :flipoff2:

(and no, I'm not a democrat, and I would tend to agree with you as generalization but then again - sheeple suck!)


and we wouldn't need a sticky if more people got off their asses and got involved...


:usa:

Write an editorial, get it published, and I'll send you a sticker:
Crowley Offroad editorial challenge (http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=540147#post540147) .

Crowdog

I just read that editorial in the Mt Democrat yesterday. I about threw up my breakfast. :( :mad: :(

May they all rot in hell.......:flipoff: :flipoff: :flipoff:

i signed the petition and they sent me an email, do i need to reply?? exuse my stupidity

Cliff

Originally posted by e cliff
i signed the petition and they sent me an email, do i need to reply?? exuse my stupidity

Cliff

Nope.

Just take a few more moments to write your representatives and you are done. :D

Crowdog

Jesus that works out to be 2,432,000 acres! :barf:

I need some ammo, does anyone know how many miles of trail there is in eldorado county? or california for that matter? I want to work up a comparision of wilderness acres vs trail acres cause I'm sure the number doesn't favor us. I just hit all the state governed websites I could find looking for the info and came up empty handed.

for instance the rubicon trail, 20 miles roughly, with a very very generous 40 foot wide swath encompass' a measly 100 acres.

The eldorado national forest lawsuit is threating 70 miles of trails according to what I've read. with the same generous 40 foot wide swath that adds up to 340 acres.

I signed the petition. I can't believe that they can't see how doing this will cause more harm than good. The whole fire hazard is huge. Especially from the increased number of forest fires all over the areas that were closed off to mechanized travel in the last number of years. It irks me to no end how ignorant some people can be. It is also amazing what people will do just to get a vote from a particular party or interest group.

I just read the article, and I cannot believe, (well I can believe it) that the Green Peace, tree huggin', baffling idiots are going so big on their efforts. Maybe we were scaring them off on some of their smaller efforts that they decided to go BIGTIME to REALLY catch some attention. Hell, this crap is making headlines here! So I had to find this thread, as there will always be one if crowdog is involved, and place my name on the petition.
I'll keep following up on the subject. I hope we can come out as winners.
Still looking for donations? I'm unemployed, but I'll sell or pawn something to get the money.;)

I also sent a letter to 'em.

Signed the petition and sent a letter to Boxer

Originally posted by mtndewmaniac
I just read the article, and I cannot believe, (well I can believe it) that the Green Peace, tree huggin', baffling idiots are going so big on their efforts.

It was less than 10 years ago that Feinstein pushed through the California Desert Protection Act. What was that, you ask?

The California Desert Protection Act protects 6.37 million acres now managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The legislation:

• Designates nearly 3.5 million acres of BLM land in the California desert as wilderness;
• Adds 1.2 million acres of land to Death Valley National Monument and redesignated the monument a National Park;
• Adds 234,000 acres to Joshua Tree National Monument and redesignated the area a National Park;
• Establishes a new 1.4 million-acre Mojave National Preserve;
• Designates national park wilderness for Death Valley, Joshua Tree and Mojave; and
• Transfers 20,500 acres of Bureau of Land Management land to the State of California to expand the Red Rock Canyon State Park.

:eek: :mad3:

They will keep coming for more until we have nothing left. If we comprimise, and give up a little, they will be back for more later and get what they want in the end.

Crowdog
Dump Boxer & Feinstein! (http://www.crowley-offroad.com/dump_senator_boxer_and_senator_feinstein.htm)

Sorry crowdog, I didn't realize how big the picture really was. I've been on the computer for only 6-7 months, and this is still new to me. Thanx to the PBB, I have seen what is going on a lot sooner and more frequently, otherwise I would have only seen this in the papers, (which I don't read much) and on the T.V. (which I also don't watch much of). I am very thankful that I can see what is happening to our lands through the PBB, I have never wrote them a letter or even addressed my concerns before I joined pirate.com, since then I have replied to a few of them, also sent them Emails addressing my concerns.
I thank you for your efforts on keeping us informed, for without you, we may not have had as good of a fighting chance against the wilderness SS.

Originally posted by mtndewmaniac
Sorry crowdog, I didn't realize how big the picture really was. I've been on the computer for only 6-7 months, and this is still new to me. Thanx to the PBB, I have seen what is going on a lot sooner and more frequently, otherwise I would have only seen this in the papers, (which I don't read much) and on the T.V. (which I also don't watch much of). I am very thankful that I can see what is happening to our lands through the PBB, I have never wrote them a letter or even addressed my concerns before I joined pirate.com, since then I have replied to a few of them, also sent them Emails addressing my concerns.
I thank you for your efforts on keeping us informed, for without you, we may not have had as good of a fighting chance against the wilderness SS.

mtndewmaniac:

Didn't mean to come across like you weren't paying attention. Just using your statement as an opportunity to educate more people about the objectives of Boxer & Feinstein.

Thanks for taking the time to sign petitions and write your representatives.

Crowdog

I am honored, crowdog, that you did use my statement to help get the point across. I'm still relatively new to the big picture, the spineless brainiacs who want to take the lands away from everyone else. We all can make a difference together, so I hope that my one vote will add up to many votes.;)

2945

still counting..

getting a bunch of friends to sign too!

done,come on people.i only made #3419,so get off your ass and sign in...

Wilderness status sought for 2.5 million acres in California


(Published Friday, May, 10, 2002 12:30PM)



WASHINGTON (AP) - Sen. Barbara Boxer wants to designate 2.5 million acres of public land in California as wilderness, including national forest areas that the Bush administration has proposed for oil drilling and logging.
Boxer intends to introduce legislation next week targeting 77 areas across the state. It would be the first statewide wilderness bill since 1984, she said Friday.

The legislation would halt U.S. Forest Service proposals to drill for oil in portions of the Los Padres National Forest and to do logging in the Duncan Canyon area of the Tahoe National Forest.

The bill also would expand the Ansel Adams Wilderness area east of Yosemite National Park.

Boxer expects logging and mining interests as well as off-road recreation enthusiasts to oppose the wilderness designations.

"Opponents will say this bill will add to public lands. It doesn't. It just gives them a higher level of protection," said Boxer, who plans to kick off a campaign for the bill Saturday at the Presidio in San Francisco.

Boxer has no support at the moment among California's 20 Republicans in the GOP-controlled House of Representatives.

But Boxer, who plans to seek re-election in 2004, said the process will take time.

"This bill will be put into law bit by bit, year by year," she said.

http://fresnobee.com/state_wire/v-print/story/2598904p-3146942c.html
------------------------------------------

Have you signed the petition to oppose this yet?
http://www.petitiononline.com/boxer/petition.html

signed...

1st of many "daily" letters to be sent on Monday.

:flipoff: boxer

Originally posted by seRob
signed...

1st of many "daily" letters to be sent on Monday.

:flipoff: boxer

I like it.....

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/avatar.php?userid=4359&dateline=1021105138

Boxer ushers in wilderness legislation
By David Whitney -- Bee Washington Bureau
Published 2:15 a.m. PDT Saturday, May 11, 2002
WASHINGTON -- Sen. Barbara Boxer said Friday that she will soon introduce legislation designating an additional 2.5 million acres of federal land in California as wilderness, the first step in a long and controversial process of wilderness additions that she said probably will be done piecemeal over several years.

Boxer, D-Calif., released a long list of environmental organizations and community leaders from throughout the state backing her legislation.

But the bill also drew immediate Republican opposition, and outdoor recreation groups expressed concern.

The largest wilderness additions would be in southeastern and Southern California. Boxer is proposing about 425,000 acres of new wilderness in the Inyo National Forest, including a new 282,880-acre White Mountain Wilderness Area.

In Central and Northern California, the legislation would add a 51,790-acre Yuki Wilderness Area to the Mendocino National Forest, create a new 68,480-acre Mineral King Wilderness Area in the Sequoia National Forest, establish five new wilderness areas totaling about 70,000 acres in the Tahoe National Forest, and add 97,590 acres of potential timberlands to the Trinity Alps Wilderness Area east of Willow Creek.

Nearly 550,000 acres of the new wilderness would be on lands managed by the Bureau of Reclamation, mostly in Southern California.

Among the new Bureau of Land Management wilderness areas in Northern California would be the 41,100-acre Kings Range area of the agency's Ukiah district, described by Jay Watson of the Wilderness Society as "truly one of the wildest beaches in the entire state."

"We strongly support this legislation," Watson said. "California has a long and rich tradition of wilderness legislation, and this continues that tradition."

Keith Hammond, communications director for the California Wilderness Coalition, said some of the areas that the legislation would permanently protect are under threat of logging. He cited the areas near Willow Creek where logging has been held up by an injunction issued in a lawsuit filed by environmentalists.

Boxer will unveil her legislation at a wilderness rally today at the Presidio in San Francisco.

"California has always been about its intrinsic beauty," she said in a telephone press conference with reporters Friday. "We want to make sure when we have 50 million people, which is our projected population in 2025, that we have places that are wilderness for those people to visit."

About 14 million acres in California, roughly 14 percent of its total land base, is designated wilderness, off-limits to logging, mining and other forms of commercial development. Such designations also usually exclude use of motorized vehicles.

Don Amador, a political organizer with an off-road-vehicle group called the Blue Ribbon Coalition, said vehicle access to hundreds of miles of forest trails and roads would be cut off by Boxer's legislation, including a popular road in the Downeyville Ranger District of the Tahoe National Forest.

"If they go ahead with that, they will have a real fight on their hands," Amador said. Besides, he said, "most of us who went through the wilderness debates of the 1980s feel that enough acres have already been set aside."

Some Lake Tahoe mountain bikers also are concerned about the bill.

Boxer's draft legislation would cut off access to about 200 miles of bike trails near the Big Meadows area of South Lake Tahoe, said Dave VonDerau, a mountain biker from the area.

Rep. John Doolittle, R-Rocklin, declared his opposition, saying wilderness designations "simply do not strike the proper balance for either environment or people."

"Furthermore, this bill would jeopardize already fragile rural economies, cut off renewable sources of forest products, eliminate vital cattle grazing opportunities, hinder water development and endanger both human and animal life with the increased likelihood of catastrophic wildfire," he said.

This is Boxer's first crack at wilderness legislation since her election to the Senate in 1992. Wilderness bills in 1984 and 1994 added almost 11 million acres of protected lands, but only after long and difficult battles.

Boxer acknowledged that she is in for a fight. She said that her proposal most likely will be broken into bits and pieces, with each running the legislative gauntlet separately.

Her bill is not endorsed by her colleague, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., the author of the 1994 wilderness bill and a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee that has primary jurisdiction over wilderness bills. Boxer is not on that panel.

Boxer's bill is being carved into regional pieces for introduction in the House.

Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Napa, will introduce the part covering wilderness areas north of Yosemite National Park next week, along with a smaller bill covering additions just in his district.

Thompson stressed that all of the lands covered by the legislation are owned by the Forest Service, the BLM or the National Park Service. In some areas of his district, new wilderness protections will mean better salmon production and better economic prospects from tourism.

"We went all out to make sure access will not be truncated and that hunting can continue," Thompson said in a telephone interview. "I can't imagine any of these wilderness designations will be legislatively easy. But you've got to try."


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Wilderness Proposal

In Northern and Central California, the legislation would:

*Add a 51,790-acre Yuki Wilderness Area to the Mendocino National Forest

*Create a new 68,480-acre Mineral King Wilderness Area in the Sequoia National Forest

*Establish five new wilderness areas totaling about 70,000 acres in the Tahoe National Forest

*Add 97,590 of potential timberlands to the Trinity Alps Wilderness Area east of Willow Creek.

Among the new Bureau of Land Management wilderness areas in Northern California:

*The 41,100-acre Kings Range area of the agency's Ukiah district

In addition, Boxer is proposing about 425,000 acres of new wilderness in the Inyo National Forest, including a new 282,880-acre White Mountain Wilderness Area.

http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/...p-3253539c.html
------------------------------------------

Boxer wants far more wilderness
She introduces bill to add 2.5 million acres in California
Glen Martin, Chronicle Environment Writer
Saturday, May 11, 2002
©2002 San Francisco Chronicle


In the most ambitious attempt to expand California's protected lands in eight years, Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., has introduced legislation that would designate 2.5 million acres of the state's forests, deserts and river canyons as federal wilderness.

The bill is supported by companion legislation sponsored by Reps. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, and Hilda Solis, D-El Monte.

But rapid passage of the legislation appears unlikely, given that Republicans dominate the House of Representatives -- and they generally oppose additional wilderness designations.

Under Boxer's bill, 77 areas from Mexico to Oregon would receive wilderness designation, while portions of 22 rivers would be protected under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.

Two additional rivers -- Cache Creek and the East Fork of the Carson River - - would be studied for possible wild or scenic status.

Boxer's bill would dramatically increase the amount of California land permanently protected from development and motor vehicles. Under most circumstances, residential and resort development, oil drilling, logging, grazing, mining and off-road vehicles are prohibited in federal wilderness areas.

Passage would mark the most significant increase in state wilderness lands since the California Desert Protection Act was adopted in 1994. The desert act preserved about 7 million acres of land in Southern California.

The bill would quash many of the conservation battles now brewing in the state in the favor of environmentalists, including a U.S. Forest Service proposal to drill for oil in the Los Padres National Forest in Central California.

"It doesn't take much to destroy the natural beauty and wonder of these places," Boxer said. "These lands are our responsibility -- we must make sure future generations can see them as they were when people first ventured on them."

Environmentalists responded enthusiastically.

"This is an exciting day for California," said Jay Watson, the California director of the Wilderness Society.

"California has a long and rich tradition of wilderness preservation," said Watson. "Wilderness and free-flowing rivers help define the quality of life here. Congress has passed more wilderness legislation affecting California than any other state, and this bill will continue in that tradition."

The reaction generally was negative from groups favoring multiple uses of federal wildlands, including logging, mining and off-road vehicle touring.

"California already has a sufficient amount of land designated as wilderness," said Chris Nance, a spokesman for the California Forestry Association.

"Moreover, we don't believe additional wilderness will be acceptable to the people living and working in the areas where the designations will occur -- mainly because it prevents people from accessing those areas," he said.

Boxer said the bill would not stop economic development in and around the state's wildlands.

"Tourism is California's No. 1 industry," she said during a media briefing. "People will be so excited to see land that looks pretty much the way it looked when it was created."

Positions on the bill in the Senate and House of Representatives are firmly divided along party lines.

"None of my Republican colleagues in Congress has endorsed the (House) bills, but that doesn't mean they won't work with us," said Boxer. "(Passage) will probably be bit by bit, year by year. It took 14 years for the desert protection act to pass."

Thompson, the companion bill co-sponsor, said the legislation probably won't make it through the House this year, "though it could squeeze through as part of a negotiation at the end of the session.

"The main thing is, we're going to keep working on it. My district has most of the salmon habitat in the state, and salmon are extremely important to my constituents. To a large degree, the quality of the wilderness surrounding the salmon streams reflects the size of the salmon run."

Republican congressional representatives labeled the bill "dead on arrival."

"Any wilderness bill on the House side has to go through the Subcommittee on National Parks, Recreation and Public Lands," said Brian Kennedy, press secretary for Rep. George Radanovich, R-Fresno.

"My boss is the chairman of that subcommittee," said Kennedy, "and he will consider Sen. Boxer's wilderness bill when she introduces legislation to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Even then, I wouldn't give it a hundred-to-one shot of making it through the subcommittee. In other words, it doesn't have much of a shot. Congressman Radanovich is enthusiastically opposed -- he considers it an egregious imposition on multiple uses, industries and the taxpayers who pay for the maintenance of these lands."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/artic...11/BA106854.DTL
---------------------------------------------
Are you going to go to the protest rally?
http://www.crowley-offroad.com/protest_rally.htm

Have you signed the petition to oppose this?
http://www.petitiononline.com/boxer/petition.html

Tuolumne County - Boxer Wilderness meeting
YOUR ACTION NEEDED
Senator Barbara Boxer’s Proposed Wilderness Act

Please come and tell the Board of Supervisors and Tom Bohigian from Boxer’s staff what you think about additions to the Wilderness areas and designation of the Clavey and 10 tributaries as Wild and Scenic.

WHERE: Board of Supervisors Chamber
WHEN: Tuesday May 21, 2002
WHY: The advocates of this bill will be there is force. We need to let the Board and Boxer’s office know that the advocates do not represent all of Tuolumne and Calaveras Counties. Senator Boxer wants to know what the people of California think of this bill. Your appearance means that you want to be “stand up and be counted.” As Bruce Vincent has often observed, “The world is run by those who show up.”

Important Points:
2,424,156 Total CA acres from Oregon to the Mexican border

20 Rivers designated as Wild and Scenic

$24,000,000.00 per year for trails, tourism, law enforcement, and land purchase of inholders

Emigrant area addition 25,280 acres

Stanislaus/Humbolt Toiyabe 35,200 acres

When is enough, enough?

There are discrepancies between this legislation and the Wilderness bill of 1964. What happens when there is a discrepancy? The more strict legislation may apply.

There are promises being made that won’t be able to be kept because of the bill passed in 1964.

What about buffer zones? They are being applied to existing wilderness now.

We need to look beyond what is being proposed here in the Stanislaus. There are other serious implications across the state as well.

For multiple use, Wilderness is LOST land.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you cannot make this meeting, please fax letters of opposition to Boxer's Wilderness bill to the supervisors:

Fax: (209) 533-5510

Ratzlaff, Don (District 2)
Rotelli, Larry (District 1)
Syvester, Laurie (District 3)
Thornton, Mark (District 4)

You letter need not be long. Just a quick note to ask them to support multiple-use on public lands by opposing more wilderness areas.

Crowdog

i'm going to have to send some emails from home. they wouldn't like my email address on this from work. wells fargo, hmmmm?:flipoff2:

May 15, 2002 -- Boxer formally announces California wilderness bill


"THE WILDERNESS MAP showing proposed wilderness areas outlined in Sen. Barbara Boxer's legislation. See story, " Boxer formally announces California wilderness bill."

By EDMOND JACOBY Staff writer

California's junior senator went on record in San Francisco Saturday with a bill that will set aside new areas as wilderness preserves throughout the state.

There were no surprises in the bill, which has previously been described in the Mountain Democrat from preliminary drafts. The final draft of the legislation will be submitted to the U.S. Senate some time this week.

Concerns expressed by local political figures and officials of water purveyors and recreation organizations in El Dorado County seem to have been addressed in the final version of the bill, at least in part.

As expected, the bill will add to wilderness areas in the county, creating two new wilderness areas, Meiss Meadows and Caples Creek. A channel between the two, roughly running along the route of a four-wheel-drive road between Forty-two Mile picnic ground on Highway 50 near Lovers Leap and the north shore of Caples Lake, is left open for vehicular access.

Such access was an issue for off-road vehicle groups and for El Dorado Irrigation District.

The off-roaders were concerned that their access to places they are accustomed to driving their recreational vehicles would be cut off. EID worried that maintenance of stream beds and flumes and clearing of brush and other forest fire fuels near them would be impeded.

Mechanized equipment, including vehicles but also non-vehicular equipment, is prohibited in a wilderness area.

Caples Creek, which runs from Caples Lake to the Silver Fork of the American River, passes through the Caples Creek Wilderness area designated on maps supplied by Boxer's office. EID continues to be concerned about lack of vehicular access to the creek in that area. The terrain varies between meadowland, forest and smooth granite rock surface.

"The California Wild Heritage Wilderness Act of 2002 will protect approximately 2.5 million acres of public lands in 77 different areas across the state, as well as the free-flowing portions of 22 rivers," Boxer said at the announcement.

"It is crucial that we protect these precious places before it is too late," she said.

"During the last 20 years, 675,000 acres of unprotected wilderness - approximately the size of Yosemite National Park - have lost their wilderness character due to all sorts of activities, such as logging and mining," she said.

According to Boxer, her bill will ensure that the designated areas will remain open for recreational activities, including horseback riding, fishing, hiking, backpacking, rock climbing, cross country skiing, and canoeing. However, the wilderness designation will no longer allow logging, construction, or access by motorized vehicles.

Because much of California's drinking water supply is made up of national forest watersheds, Boxer said, the legislation will protect the quality of drinking water.

On Monday the Inyo County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution directing county staff to convey to Boxer a set of concerns that creation of additional wilderness areas within the county could adversely affect the county and its citizens by restricting public access and reducing county revenues.

E-mail Edmond Jacoby at ejacoby@mtdemocrat.net

http://www.mtdemocrat.com/archives/index.inn?loc=detail&doc=/2002/May/15-2974-1N_01.txt

Food for thought:

If Boxer wants to set aside more land for people to hike, climb, and bike......

Then how come some 50% of Americans are obese.

You really think a bunch of fat assed americans are going to get out of their gas guzzeling, soccer mom SUV's to go climb a mountain??

Originally posted by sfazr2
Food for thought:

If Boxer wants to set aside more land for people to hike, climb, and bike......

Then how come some 50% of Americans are obese.

You really think a bunch of fat assed americans are going to get out of their gas guzzeling, soccer mom SUV's to go climb a mountain??

The fact of the matter is that the people who use wilderness aeras is a very small percentage but to the general public "non public land using city slickers'' it seems like a good idea. Sucks but its true.